In fluid control systems having a plurality of work elements, such as a fluid control system on a bucket loader having work elements including a lift actuator for lifting the bucket and a tilt actuator for tilting the bucket, it is common practice to provide the work elements with pressurized fluid from a single pressurized fluid source by interconnecting the work elements in parallel. However, if the work elements are operating under greatly different pressure conditions, because they are linked hydraulically in parallel, fluid flow from the pressurized fluid source will tend to follow the path of least resistance to the lower pressure work element, resulting in less fluid supply to the higher pressure work element and poor operability thereof.
As an attempted remedy to this problem, an operator can try to find a modulation point for the lower pressure work element wherein fluid flow thereto is sufficiently restricted such that adequate fluid supply to the higher pressure element will be available. However, when such modulation point is found, it has been observed that both work elements will slow down and otherwise suffer from poor operability, due to the shared fluid supply.
In some applications, the fluid system will include an additional pressurized fluid source such as a steering pump that is idle or under-utilized when the above discussed work elements such as the lift and tilt actuators are being operated. Thus, it would be desirable to have the capability to direct pressurized fluid flow from the idle or under-utilized source to one of the working elements to improve the operability of the working elements.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems and achieving the results as set forth above.